Month: August 2017

In the 90s Sega was in direct competition with Nintendo. Not just with their home consoles, but with their portable systems as well. We all know who the winner was in that battle, but Sega proved that it was willing to try new things and one-up Nintendo at just about every corner. The Sega Mega Jet was one of those things.

So, what was the Sega Mega Jet? It essentially was the predecessor to the Sega Nomad, a portable console that could play Genesis games. Only the Mega Jet lacked a screen. Initially, the console was rented for use on Japanese Airlines

The device lacked its own screen but could play Mega Drive cartridges when connected to a small armrest monitor used on JAL flights. The unit featured a directional pad on the left side and six buttons on the right, similar to the layout of a game controller. There was a second joypad port on the bottom of the Mega Jet for multiplayer games.

A consumer version of Mega Jet was released by Sega of Japan on March 10, 1994 at the cost US $123. It was essentially the same as the unit that was used on JAL flights, meaning that it still lacked a screen and couldn’t be powered without an AC adapter. Other than the addition of a mono DIN plug cord and the necessary AC adapter, no other additions or improvements were made.

While at a thrift store in California a very rare prototype Atari console was discovered. It was purchased for $30, later sold for $3,000!

The discovery was an Atari 2700, the supposed follow-up to the 2600. The 2700 really isn’t any different from the 2600, the biggest difference between them is a pair of wireless controllers (as opposed to wired ones) and the overall physical appearance.

While It is unclear how many of these systems exist, former Atari employee Dan Kramer has stated that at least 12 consoles were made, plus extra controllers.

Nintendo recently flared the microconsole craze with NES Classic Edition. This spurred nostalgia amongst gamers of the 8-bit era and with that, Nintendo has another console coming preloaded with more games this September. But, they aren’t the only game in town, there’s another preloaded console on the way from AtGames, the Sega Genesis Flashback.

However, early reviews haven’t exactly been kind to the console, coming preloaded with 85 games. With the name “Sega Genesis Flashback,” you’d think that the system would come preloaded with 85 Genesis games. But, that is a misnomer, the console itself comes with a mixture of Master System, Game Gear, Genesis and 28 unrelated Sega games akin to shovelware.

While many like myself wouldn’t mind the non-Genesis content, the extra 28 games just add a the “ugh” factor already surrounding the poor reviews coming several outlets. Many reviewers haven’t been kind to machine, saying that it’s interface is clunky and disjointed. Even worse: that the emulation (which the system uses to play cartridge games) of Genesis games is poor. AtGames claims that most of these issues are do to review units containing outdated system software, but are working to resend newer units with an updated version.

“A batch of our review units were accidentally shipped out with early software builds that do not represent the final version,” AtGames said. “We are working to get updated and correct final products in the hands of reviewers in the coming weeks.”

Systems like these get gamers who grew up in the 1990s a sense of remembrance and a reason to revisit those consoles and games with ease. Many might not care for minor bugs or glitches, but enthusiasts will certainly avoid it if they can’t play it the way they remember it.

AtGames is no stranger to producing Sega Hardware, they’ve been doing it for a long time now, producing a considerable number of Sega and Atari microconsoles. So, it’s a surprise to see something like this happen just before its release in late September.

The original Super Mario Brothers cart for the NES is not in short supply, but a print run sold individually and not bundled with the console? Mint and sealed? That can fetch a worthy price, and in this case: $30,100.44! The copy was sold on eBay.

It even has the original price tag of $26.99. And if you were to calculate the value of $27 in 1985 to 2017, you’d have the price of a full game now retailing at about $59.99. Regardless, there aren’t that many games that sell for such a high price (the elusive US release of Stadium Events for one).

The same seller, DKOldies, also auctioned off a sealed copy of Kid Icarus which had a winning bid of over $11,000.